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Heading into the fourth week of the renewed conflict in the Middle East, any sign of the war de-escalating appears to have been obliterated after U.S. President Donald Trump’s late Saturday ultimatum that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants.

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On Sunday, Iran’s military responded to the U.S. president’s threat, stating it will completely shut off the vital oil passageway if Trump proceeds with his plan.

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Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Iranian missiles struck two southern cities not far from its main nuclear research centre late Saturday.

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

Iran responds to Trump’s ultimatum

Iran’s Prime Minister Masoud Pezeshkian responded to Trump’s threat that the Islamic Republic reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 48 hours or its power plants would face attacks, stating that such comments show “desperation.”

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Pezeshkian wrote on X on Sunday, “Threats and terror only strengthen our unity. The Strait of Hormuz is open to all except those who violate our soil. We firmly confront delirious threats on the battlefield.”

Earlier in the day, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said if the U.S. attacks its power plants, the strait would be closed completely and would not re-open “until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the BBC reported.

The IRGC also said it would retaliate by targeting Israel’s power plants, energy infrastructure, and IT facilities.

U.S. may ‘escalate to de-escalate’ against Iran: Bessent

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. may need to “escalate” its attacks against Iran in its efforts to end the war.

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Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Bessent said Trump is using “the only language the Iranians understand” by threatening to destroy the country’s power plants unless Tehran fully opens the Strait of Hormuz.

He said the U.S. president “will take whatever steps it takes” to achieve his goals in the war with Iran.

The secretary was asked about the comment last week that Trump was considering “winding down” military operations and whether the president is now escalating the conflict.

“They are not mutually exclusive,” Bessent said. “Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.”

Son of Iran’s last shah asks U.S. and Israel to spare civilian infrastructure

Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called on the U.S. and Israel to “continue targeting the regime and its apparatus of repression, while sparing the civilian infrastructure Iranians will need to rebuild our country.”

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“Iran’s civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran,” he wrote on X.

Netanyahu skirts questions about Trump’s threat on Iran’s energy grid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was noncommittal when asked about Trump’s threats to strike Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t opened, and whether Israel would join.

“I think President Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. And whatever we do we do together and as far as possible in confidence,” Netanyahu said Sunday.

Iranian attacks on Israel

Iranian missiles strikes have wounded approximately at least 180 people in southern Israel after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept a barrage late Saturday that hit two cities near a nuclear facility.

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Iran reportedly fired the projectiles, striking the cities of Dimona and Arad, in response to an attack on its Natanz nuclear enrichment complex earlier in the day.

At the Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, the hospital’s deputy director, Dr. Roy Kessous, told The Associated Press that the hospital was treating 150 patients for shrapnel wounds, severe physical trauma and a few cases of acute anxiety.

WHO chief says war at a ‘perilous stage’ with attacks near nuclear facilities

The United Nations’ top health official says the war has reached a “perilous stage” following strikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility and in the city of Dimona not far from an Israeli nuclear research centre.

“Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He called on warring parties to “exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents.”

— with files from The Associated Press

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